


That Old Feeling

by oh_kathryn_my_captain



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Episode: s01e10 Spelling Bee, F/F, Love Letters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 05:45:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16212671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oh_kathryn_my_captain/pseuds/oh_kathryn_my_captain
Summary: During spring cleaning, Pippa finds a sealed letter from an old friend and wonders why she never opened it.





	That Old Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and welcome to another installment of "I'm writing four things at once."

Spring cleaning came less than once a year at Pentangle’s Academy and Pippa was running out of reasons to avoid it. There were papers shoved into every corner of her desk, files that were several inches thick, and dust on just about everything. She didn’t plan to spend the whole day sitting on the floor with piles of scrolls and parchments piled up around her, but here she was. It had finally gotten on her nerves that she couldn’t find a bloody thing, and that won out over her dislike of going through old papers. They were all like bad memories to her. The past wasn’t a place she liked to revisit.

Her desk and cabinets had been emptied of their contents and as she sifted through the last handful of documents, she let out a sigh of relief. Wonderful. Now she could go another few years ignoring the state of her office

Pippa stacked up the piles of importance and banished the junk. She had just pushed in the last drawer on her desk and was about to turn in for the night when she heard the sound of paper hitting the floor. Turning back to investigate the stray, she saw an envelope, sealed with black wax and a matching bow. Her heart began to race. She recognized the letter from someplace, she was sure of it.

Tentatively, she reached down and examined the seal. The initials _H.H._ were scrawled in cursive in the hardened wax, which did nothing to calm her nerves.

 _Hecate Hardbroom_ , she thought, and in an instant, she knew exactly where she had first seen the letter. 

* * *

 It didn’t take long for Hecate to realize she had made a mistake. In fact, she knew she was making a mistake as she looked out her window and saw Pippa riding her broomstick alone over the lake, but by that point, the damage had already been done. They’d both put their hearts and souls into that display and she ruined it.

With tears beginning to well up in her eyes, she closed the blinds and fell onto her bed, sobbing. Pippa was the only person who’d ever been willing to spend time with her, let alone be her friend. She shouldn’t have let some silly notion about Pippa being better off without her ruin the best relationship she’d ever had. Sobbing even harder, she reminded herself that that was not the only reason she abandoned Pippa.

After all of the late nights together, the walks, the hand-holding, Hecate knew it was inevitable for her to fall in love. From the moment Pippa introduced herself, it was clear exactly what would happen next and Hecate never stood a chance. She loved Pippa more than she’d loved anything in this world, and now, she had let her go. What had she done?

Hecate heard the half-hearted applause from the crowd outside and sat up in her bed. It was over. She’d humiliated her best friend in front of the entire school just because she was too afraid of someone ever loving her in return. Pippa would never forgive her; she might not even look Hecate in the eye again. Hecate’s mind raced, trying to think of some way she could fix this horrible mistake. On her desk, she spotted her quill and parchment. Perhaps it was time for Pippa to know the truth.

* * *

 Pippa ran her pointed, pink fingernails along the fold of the envelope, teasing the loosened grip of the wax, but hesitating to open it fully. It had been so long since she’d seen Hecate, and the last time they had spoken was a heated argument that Pippa had spent a great deal of time trying to forget. Maybe it would be best if she pretended she had never even seen the letter.

She turned the letter over, intending to put it back in her drawer to worry about another day, and that was when she saw, in brilliant calligraphy, the word “Pipsqueak.” Her jaw clenched in an effort to quell the emotions rising in her throat. There was something about seeing her old nickname written down that made her forget her hatred for Hecate for just a moment, and remember what it had been like when they were friends. That was enough for her to peel open the envelope, and unfold the letter inside as she took a seat at her desk to read it.

* * *

 Hecate folded up the letter and sealed it as well as she could with shaking hands. This was her only hope of fixing her mistake. Pippa would understand once she knew how Hecate felt; she had to.

Grasping the letter in her hand, Hecate ran out of her room and down the stairs, nearly slipping on the tiled floor. Every moment that passed would make it harder for Pippa to forgive her and she had already made her wait too long.

She made her way to Pippa’s dorm and coming up on the door decorated in pink glitter, she hesitated. What if Pippa hated her? She was too afraid that the damage was irreparable; that she gave up her chance to be with Pippa. Of course, Pippa was under no obligation to take her back, but there was a small glimmer of hope when she thought about the years of friendship they’d shared. So she knocked.

“Who is it?” came Pippa’s muffled voice. There was no doubt she had been crying.

“I came to say I’m sorry, Pippa.”

“You couldn’t have thought of that two hours ago before I made a fool of myself in front of everyone?”

Her usually tender voice was rough and irritated. Hecate didn’t bat an eye, thought. She deserved all of the anger Pippa held against her.

“Please let me in.”

“No.”

It was the answer Hecate had feared, but never expected. Everything they had built together, all those years sharing secrets, laughing and crying together, she’d ruined in one afternoon. Her sore eyes began to well with tears again. There was nothing she could do.

“You’ve been acting weird for months and today just proves that you don’t want to be friends with me,” Pippa shouted. “So just stop pretending. Leave me alone.”

Tears now falling from her eyes, Hecate bent down and slid the letter under Pippa’s door. She walked through the halls, her head hung low to hide her reddened face from passersby. Maybe one day, when she was ready, Pippa would read it. Maybe then, they could be friends again. Until that day, however, Hecate was cursed to live a life without her best friend. 

* * *

  _Pippa,_

_First and foremost, I am sorry._

_I made a mistake today and I can’t expect you to ever forgive me. It was cruel and I know I must’ve hurt you. Please know that I didn’t do it out of spite; I truly believed that I was doing you a favor. But I was wrong._

_I did it because I’m hopelessly selfish. I wanted to protect myself from the consequences of what would happen if you ever found out how I feel about you. I love you, Pippa. I’ve been in love with you for a long time. I would never dare to hope that you feel the same way about me, but I thought that you deserved the truth._

_If you read this and you decide that you never want to talk to me again, I understand, but I promise I wouldn’t trade your friendship for anything. If you give me another chance, I will prove it to you._

_I’m so sorry._

_-Hecate_

Pippa stared at the letter for several minutes when she couldn’t think of anything else to do. She had worked so hard to forget Hecate, but now every moment of their last argument was replaying in her brain, making her feel guilty. She should’ve given Hecate another chance; she should’ve listened to her. And now, it was 30 years too late. Hecate hated her and it wasn’t as if she had an excuse to barge into Cackle’s Academy to declare her love for the potions mistress. She folded up the letter, placed it back in its envelope and in her bottom drawer. It was time to let go.

* * *

 One month later, Hecate was preparing special lesson plans for Mildred and Ethel as they studied for the Spelling Bee. She might be taking this friendly competition too seriously, but there was no way she would let herself lose to Pentangle’s Academy. Sure, at one point, she’d had an...infatuation of sorts, but that was over now. Pippa had rejected her; it was time to let go.

A knock on her door startled her out of her writing. “Enter.”

A witch with the most absurd amount of pink she had ever seen stepped through the door and Hecate immediately rose to her feet, her defenses up.

Pippa stood in front of Hecate’s desk for a moment, shifting her weight and fiddling with something in her hand before she gave a courteous bow and a “Well met, Hecate.”

Hecate returned the gesture with a stiff spine and trembling hands. “Miss Pentangle,” she said, putting emphasis on the formal title. “I was expecting your deputy headmistress to be the mentor for the Spelling Bee this year.”

Pippa smiled. “Miss Nettlebed had some important matters to attend to.”

It wasn’t quite a lie, but if Pippa were to tell the whole truth, her deputy was taking on the responsibilities that Pippa had left for her. The moment that the host of the Spelling Bee had been announced, she marched right into Miss Nettlebed’s office and told her she had to go the Cackle’s Academy. She wasn’t about to give up the opportunity to confront Hecate when the universe had made the situation all wrapped up and dropped it right into her lap.

“And you don’t?”

Of course Hecate was suspicious. She probably thought Pippa’s only reason for coming here was to make a scene.

“To tell you the truth, I have some business to take care of at Cackle’s,” Pippa said, stepping closer to Hecate’s desk until her thighs hit the edge. She tossed the letter she’d been holding onto the desk and watched Hecate’s eyes widen. “Do you recognize that?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer. Hecate gave a jerky nod. “I found it a few weeks ago in my office. I have no idea how it got there, but there’s a few things in that letter I think we need to discuss.”

Hecate nodded, but refused to speak. She feared her voice would fail her if she dared to open her mouth.

“First of all, I wanted to say that I’m sorry,” Pippa began, to the apparent surprise of Hecate who raised her eyebrows. “If I’d have read your letter when you first gave it to me, it would’ve saved us both from this petty rivalry. I should’ve given you a second chance, but I was too immature to realize what I was giving up. Can you forgive me?”

“Yes,” Hecate choked out. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe that Pippa Pentangle was standing in front of her, apologizing after 30 years of bitter thoughts and blocking out memories.

Pippa let out a sigh of relief, but she knew that had been the easier part of this conversation. “There was something else I would like to discuss,” she continued as Hecate shifted uncomfortably. “I wondered if...if what you said about being in love with me was true.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“But it was true?”

“Y—yes.”

“Then I think you deserve the truth too,” Pippa said, trying to get her thoughts together. “You should know that when we were kids, I had never had a friend like you. We did everything together, Hecate. We never fought, and...you understood me in a way no one else ever had. It was because of that, I never quite got over you when you left. And it’s taken me a long time to realize this, but...I was in love with you too.”

Hecate swallowed. She couldn’t grasp what Pippa was saying. It was all so sudden; to think that after so much time had passed, Pippa was now saying the words she’d wanted to hear since she was a teenager.

“It might be too much to ask of you to feel the same way after all these years, but, after the Spelling Bee is over, do you think we could talk about this a little more? Perhaps, over dinner?”

“I think I would like that.”

Pippa smiled and walked over to the other side of the desk to where Hecate was frozen. She embraced Hecate in a warm hug and whispered in her ear, “I’ve missed you, Hiccup.”

Hecate allowed herself to smile against Pippa’s shoulder. “I’ve missed you too, Pipsqueak.”

It felt like no time at all had passed between them with Pippa in her arms. A surge of emotions overtook her and all at once, she was enraptured by the gentle stroking of Pippa’s fingers and the smell of her hair.

When Pippa pulled away, the feelings remained.

“I’ll see you at the competition tomorrow,” Pippa said.

She turned and was about to walk away when Hecate caught her hand and, to Pippa’s surprise, pulled her right into a fierce kiss. Hecate’s thumbs were brushing her cheeks and it took Pippa a moment to overcome the shock and realize that all of the feelings she had for Hecate were still stubbornly at the surface. Her own hands found their way to Hecate’s hips and brought them closer as she deepened the kiss. By the time they pulled away, they were both out of breath and somewhat dazed.

“I never thought,” began Hecate, who was trying to recover, “that I would get the chance to do that.”

“Me neither,” Pippa said, her eyes sparkling.

“You know, you don’t have to—that is to say...you can stay at Cackle’s.”

“Why, Miss Hardbroom, are you asking me to spend the night?”

“I—”

Pippa saved her from answering by planting another kiss on the corner of her lips. “I would love to spend the night with you.”


End file.
